Leading civil and human rights organizations and housing policy advocates are urging both the U.S. Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees to demand that stakeholders--now excluded from current Congressional discussion on reforming the nation’s housing finance system--be expanded to include all voices and perspectives.

The top policy concern of the organizations is to preserve the current system’s access and affordability provisions, especially the Affordable Housing Goals. They are also concerned that the nation’s homeownership rate is still declining and rental housing rates are skyrocketing. The advocates state that these difficult market dynamics affect borrowers of color and low-to-moderate income families. They maintain that everyone should be entitled to safe, decent, and affordable housing.